Ward will join the cast as new CSI Jo Danville in the seventh season premiere, replacing the departing Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera).

Sinise told Fancast that Ward is “a wonderful actress with a great personality”.

He added: "Clearly, we’ve been used to one kind of thing for six years, so it will take more than a couple of days to get used to a new character. We’ll all miss Melina, but Melina made a choice to move on, and we were lucky enough to have Sela come in.”

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His co-star Hill Harper, who plays Sheldon Hawkes, also suggested that a new character will provide the crime drama with "a jolt of energy".

“Seven years in, it gets comfortable, easy to write scenes because you know the characters so well," he explained. "So this will challenge the writers a bit. I’m excited about it.”